ST 2798

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2798

A full review by gnomethang

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BD Rating – Difficulty **– Enjoyment ****

This puzzle was published on Sunday, 31st May 2015

Morning All! I found this one relatively straightforward but as usual there were some wonderful clues here.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.  You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five best!

Across

7a           Vessel held back in middle of trip for so long (8)
FAREWELL – A EWER (vessel) reversed and contained (held back in) the middle of a FALL or trip – FA(REWE)LL

9a           Company at the point of producing voucher (6)
COUPON – A charade of CO (company) and UPON for at the point of.

10a         End of road more affected by freeze, hence more dangerous (6)
DICIER – The end letter of (roa)D followed by ICIER – more affected by freeze.

11a         Authorise priest seizing house in this state (8)
OKLAHOMA – OK for authorise and then HO (the abb. of House) inside a LAMA/priest.

12a         Common complaint taken on as responsibility not warmly embraced (4-10)
COLD-SHOULDERED – The COLD is the common complaint/illness. Add SHOULDERED for ‘taken on as responsibility’ as in a burden.

15a         Was familiar with central character in Dickens novel (4)
KNEW – The middle or central character in (dic)K(ens) and NEW for novel. Nice deception!.

17a         Person wandering, in their right mind? On the contrary (5)
NOMAD – If someone is contrary to being in their right mind the answer might be NO, MAD!

19a         Non-U first performance that’s outstanding (4)
DEBT – Remove the U (non-U) from a DEB(u)T or first performance.

20a         Tailor still reserving expensive shiny material (8,6)
STERLING SILVER – Make an anagram of (or tailor as a verb) STILL RESERVING.

23a         Subject to diversion as one’s entering key area (8)
DISTRACT – Place IS (one’s = I’S) inside the musical key of D and a TRACT or area of land.

25a         Producer of old pictures, some requiring restoration (6)
INGRES – Hidden in (some of) requirING REStoration. Luckily I saw the hidden word indicator as I didn’t know the old artist.

27a         Pay to serve and start fighting (6)
ENGAGE – Two definitions – to engage the services of and to engage in battle.

28a         Keyboard player in trio sang poorly (8)
ORGANIST – A nice easy anagram (poorly) of TRIO SANG to finish the across clues.

Down

1d           Prepare to take off burden placed on one (4)
TAXI – As an aircraft on a runway. A TAX or burden placed on top of (on in a down clue) I for one.

2d           Supporting male that’s upset, in difficult situation (6)
BEHIND – A HE (male) reversed or upset in a down clue inside a BIND/difficult situation.

3d           Part of mathematical solution in addition (4)
ALSO – Another hidden word inside (part of) mathematicAL SOlution.

4d           Mounted like fish or reptile (6)
SCALED – A definition (e.g. got up) and then a cryptic – fish and reptiles have scales.

5d           Date and hour arranged, as written (8)
AUTHORED – An anagram (arranged) of both DATE and HOUR.

6d           Record I had accomplished hard to beat (10)
FORMIDABLE – A FORM or record then I’D (I HAD) and finally ABLE for accomplished or adept.

8d           Like many pots holding a little corn at that point (7)
EARTHEN – an EAR of corn followed by THEN (at that point).

13d         Knowing all income isn’t redistributed (10)
OMNISCIENT – An anagram, indicated by redistributed, of INCOME ISNT.

14d         Take strength from male soldier in international force? (5)
UNMAN – A male soldier in international force might cryptically be described as a UN (United Nations) MAN

16d         Singer finding warmth in clothing (8)
WHEATEAR – Not a songbird that I was familiar with but in any case place HEAT (warmth) inside WEAR or clothing.

18d         Spirited sprinting (7)
DASHING – Two definitions, the former a tad archaic nowadays.

21d         How some German music sounds for important member of orchestra (6)
LEADER – This is a homophone of LIEDER which is the German plural noun for song e.g. how it sounds.

22d         Caption, for example, needed in advance (6)
LEGEND – EG – the abb. of ‘for example’ inside LEND or advance (money).

24d         City impacted by long-term investment effort? Nothing in it (4)
TROY – Place O for nothing inside TRY for effort. My favourite clue of the day.

26d         Player in deal, as featured in very successful movie (4)
EAST – Place AS (it is featured in) E.T. one of Crosswordland’s favourite movies.

Thanks to Mr Greer for a cracking puzzle. I’ll see you all next week.